Feverish moves to cover exposure

Australia's only show-business company listed on the Stock Exchange, International Concert Attractions, is looking to the success of the musical Saturday Night Fever to restore its fortunes following last summer's failure of The Full Monty.

The reported $4 million disaster at the Arts Centre, followed by the cancellation of a Shirley Bassey tour, led to last month's resignations of ICA's chief executive, James Cundall, chairman Peter Martin and deputy chairman John Burrows.

The company's new chairman, Ian Roberts, a former boss at the Melbourne Festival, says the early closure of The Full Monty affected everybody involved. The other investors were IMG, David Atkins Enterprises and the Arts Centre.

"But we are confident that Saturday Night Fever will be profitable," he says. The show has completed successful seasons in Singapore and Malaysia and is ready to open in Sydney with strong advance sales.

Fever is expected to transfer to the Arts Centre for the next summer holidays, but Roberts would not confirm this.

"What happened with The Full Monty surprised everyone," Roberts said. "But these things happen - it's being followed by Saturday Night Fever, which looks like being a huge hit."

New arrangements are aimed at cutting company overheads by 50 per cent over the next 12 months, with $800,000 cut by the end of the year. "The overheads were not sustainable," he says, pointing out that ICA had closed its offices in Asia and would rely in future on agents it had used before.

The new arrangements mean that ICA will not accept 100 per cent of risk in putting on productions. "The company will not hold more than 70 per cent of any future show," he says.

ICA was launched seven years ago by Jim McPherson and Andrew Kay, and was listed on the Stock Exchange in 2001.

Roberts was the initial chairman but left in November last year. McPherson remains as a director but Kay is now a consultant producer running his own shows, as is Cundall. "We will enter into agreements with them on individual shows, such as Saturday Night Fever with James (Cundall)," Roberts says.

ICA's early success was associated with tours by pianist David Helfgott following the hit movie, Shine, American soprano Kathleen Battle, England's Grimethorpe Colliery Band and children's entertainers Hi 5.

At present, the company is involved in tours of Sleeping Beauty on Ice and the Shaolin Monks.